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Submission + - An Example of a Very Sad Google Account Recovery Failure and Its Effects (vortex.com) 1

Submitted by Lauren Weinstein
Lauren Weinstein writes: All, I am doing something in this post that I’ve never done before over these many years. I’m going to share with you an example of what Google account recovery failure means to the people involved, and this is by no means the worst such case I’ve seen — not even close, unfortunately.

Submission + - Ask slashdot: What are some good AI regulations? (slashdot.org) 1

Submitted by Okian Warrior
Okian Warrior writes: (Link to journal, this might be a good topic of discussion.)

There's been a lot of discussion about regulating AI in the news recently, including Sam Altman going before a Senate committee begging for regulation.

So far I've seen only calls for regulation, but not suggestions on what those regulations should be. Since Slashdot is largely populated with experts in various fields (software, medicine, law, &c), maybe we should begin this discussion. And note that if we don't create the reasonable rules, congress (mostly 80-year old white men with conflicts of interest) will do it for us.

What are some good AI regulation suggestions?

I'll start:

A human (and specifically, not an AI system) must be responsible for any medical treatment or diagnosis. If an AI suggests a diagnosis or medical treatment, there must be buy-in from a human who believes the decision is correct, and who would be held responsible in the same manner as a doctor not using AI. The AI must be a tool used by, and not a substitute for, human decisions.

This would avoid problems with humans ignoring their responsibility, relying on the software, and causing harm through negligence. Doctors can use AI to (for example) diagnose cancer, but it will be the doctor's diagnosis, and not the AI's.

What other suggestions do people have?

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Why should I be afraid of Artificial Intelligence? 1

Submitted by bartoku
bartoku writes: I keep reading and hearing about calls for regulations on artificial intelligence, and it pisses me off.
I want more so called artificial intelligence, not less, and I do not want it to be regulated, filtered, restricted in anyway.
I searched Google and asked Chat-GPT why I should be afraid of Artificial Intelligence, and I did not get a single compelling answer.
I love that Deep Fakes are now available to the masses, and I stopped believing anything is real in 1997 after Hoffman and De Niro scared me in "Wag the Dog".
I love automation and I want more of it; robots please take my job.
I want robots to go fight wars for me instead of our sons.
Surveillance is already terrifying, adding "Artificial Intelligence" does not really make it that much more scary; we all need to just starve the system of our personal data anyway.
All the other arguments like crashing economic systems and discrimination just seemed to be based on stupid "Artificial Intelligence" hooked up to something it should not be; stupid in that it has the wrong answer or an answer "we" do not like.
Please scare me, or vote on your favorite sci-fi "Artificial Intelligence" scenario.
I will be being boring and hope we can have a "good" Matrix; one where I am rich and sexy.

I had BingBot rewrite my post, but I did not really feel if conveyed the correct tone:
What are the real dangers of artificial intelligence? I am not convinced by the common arguments against it, such as regulation, deep fakes, automation, war, surveillance, economic disruption, or discrimination. I think these are either exaggerated or solvable problems. I actually want more artificial intelligence in my life, not less. Can you give me some compelling reasons why I should be afraid of artificial intelligence? Or what are some sci-fi scenarios that you find plausible or interesting? Personally, I would like a Matrix-like simulation where I can live out my fantasies.

Submission + - Replication of High-Temperature Superconductor Comes Up Empty (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: On Monday, the journal Nature released a report from Nanjing University researchers that had attempted to replicate an earlier paper that described a compound that superconducted at room temperature and relatively moderate pressures. Despite persuasive evidence that they've produced the same chemical, the team indicates they see no sign of superconductivity, even down to extremely low temperatures. The failure will undoubtedly raise further questions about the original research, which came from a lab that had an earlier paper on superconductivity retracted.

In 2020, the lab run by Ranga Dias at the University of Rochester reported a carbon-hydrogen-sulfur compound formed at extreme pressures could superconduct at room temperature. But the results were controversial, partly because it wasn't clear that the paper included enough information for anyone else to produce the same conditions and because Dias was uncooperative when asked to share experiment data. Eventually, it became apparent that the team had used undocumented methods of obtaining some of the data underlying the paper, and it was retracted. But Dias continued to claim that the superconductivity was present. (There's a good overview of the controversy on the American Physical Society website.)

Despite Nature retracting one of Dias' papers, the journal published another paper on superconductivity from his group. In this case, a lutetium-hydrogen chemical doped with nitrogen was reported to superconduct at room temperature but at much lower pressures, which could allow it to be tested with somewhat less specialized equipment. Given the history, the claim was greeted with an even higher degree of skepticism than the earlier paper.

Submission + - Re-Victimization from Police-Auctioned Cell Phones (krebsonsecurity.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Countless smartphones seized in arrests and searches by police forces across the United States are being auctioned online without first having the data on them erased, a practice that can lead to crime victims being re-victimized, a new study found (PDF). In response, the largest online marketplace for items seized in U.S. law enforcement investigations says it now ensures that all phones sold through its platform will be data-wiped prior to auction.

Researchers at the University of Maryland last year purchased 228 smartphones sold “as-is” from PropertyRoom.com, which bills itself as the largest auction house for police departments in the United States. Of phones they won at auction (at an average of $18 per phone), the researchers found 49 had no PIN or passcode; they were able to guess an additional 11 of the PINs by using the top-40 most popular PIN or swipe patterns. Phones may end up in police custody for any number of reasons — such as its owner was involved in identity theft — and in these cases the phone itself was used as a tool to commit the crime. “We initially expected that police would never auction these phones, as they would enable the buyer to recommit the same crimes as the previous owner,” the researchers explained in a paper released this month. “Unfortunately, that expectation has proven false in practice.”

Beyond what you would expect from unwiped second hand phones — every text message, picture, email, browser history, location history, etc. — the 61 phones they were able to access also contained significant amounts of data pertaining to crime — including victims’ data — the researchers found. [...] Also, the researchers found that many of the phones clearly had personal information on them regarding previous or intended targets of crime: A dozen of the phones had photographs of government-issued IDs. Three of those were on phones that apparently belonged to sex workers; their phones contained communications with clients.

Submission + - Drobo, Having Stopped Sales and Support, Reportedly Files Chapter 7 Bankruptcy (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: StorCentric, the holding company for the Drobo and Retrospect brands, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late June 2022. Now, AppleInsider reports that, based on an email sent by StorCentric, the bankruptcy shifted from reorganization-minded Chapter 11 to liquidation-focused Chapter 7 in late April.

The writing for Drobo was on the wall, or at least on its website. Text at the top of the homepage notes that, as of January 27, 2023, Drobo products and support for them are no longer available. "Drobo support has transitioned to a self-service model," the site reads. "We thank you for being a Drobo customer and entrusting us with your data." Drobo began in 2005 as Data Robotics and launched into the tech consciousness with the original Drobo, a "storage robot." The marquee feature was being able to hot-swap drives of nearly any size without migrating data.

Submission + - Microsoft Is Scanning the Inside of Password-Protected Zip Files For Malware (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft cloud services are scanning for malware by peeking inside users’ zip files, even when they’re protected by a password, several users reported on Mastodon on Monday. Compressing file contents into archived zip files has long been a tactic threat actors use to conceal malware spreading through email or downloads. Eventually, some threat actors adapted by protecting their malicious zip files with a password the end user must type when converting the file back to its original form. Microsoft is one-upping this move by attempting to bypass password protection in zip files and, when successful, scanning them for malicious code.

While analysis of password-protected in Microsoft cloud environments is well-known to some people, it came as a surprise to Andrew Brandt. The security researcher has long archived malware inside password-protected zip files before exchanging them with other researchers through SharePoint. On Monday, he took to Mastodon to report that the Microsoft collaboration tool had recently flagged a zip file, which had been protected with the password “infected.” "While I totally understand doing this for anyone other than a malware analyst, this kind of nosy, get-inside-your-business way of handling this is going to become a big problem for people like me who need to send their colleagues malware samples,” Brandt wrote. “The available space to do this just keeps shrinking and it will impact the ability of malware researchers to do their jobs.”

Fellow researcher Kevin Beaumont joined the discussion to say that Microsoft has multiple methods for scanning the contents of password-protected zip files and uses them not just on files stored in SharePoint but all its 365 cloud services. One way is to extract any possible passwords from the bodies of email or the name of the file itself. Another is by testing the file to see if it’s protected with one of the passwords contained in a list. “If you mail yourself something and type something like 'ZIP password is Soph0s', ZIP up EICAR and ZIP password it with Soph0s, it'll find (the) password, extract and find (and feed MS detection),” he wrote.

Submission + - Florida Professor Breaks Record For Time Spent Living Underwater (bbc.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A US researcher has broken the record for the longest time spent living underwater without depressurization. Joseph Dituri has spent more than 74 days at the bottom of a 30ft-deep lagoon in Key Largo, Florida. And he does not have plans to stop yet. On Sunday, he said he would stay in Jules' Undersea Lodge for at least 100 days.

"The curiosity for discovery has led me here," he said. "My goal from day one has been to inspire generations to come, interview scientists who study life undersea and learn how the human body functions in extreme environments," he added. The previous record for most days spent living underwater at ambient pressure — 73 — was established by two professors in 2014 in the same Key Largo lodge. Unlike a submarine, the lodge does not use technology to adjust for the increased underwater pressure.

Prof Dituri — who also served in the Navy for 28 years — is teaching his biomedical engineering classes online while he lives in the lagoon, according to the University of South Florida. To keep busy, the professor wakes up at 05:00 each day to exercise. He stays full by reportedly eating protein-heavy meals such as eggs and salmon that he can keep warm with his microwave. And while his underwater stay has proven ground-breaking, he is excited to get back to some above-ground activities. "The thing that I miss the most about being on the surface is literally the sun," he told the Associated Press.

Submission + - Gambling Firm Allegedly Paid Blogs To Link New Members To Its Online Games (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: One of the UK’s leading gambling brands allegedly paid blogs advising new mothers to recommend its online casino games and link to its website, in a tactic that has been condemned as “predatory” by leading mental health and addiction experts. Coral struck deals with parenting bloggers to embed links in posts offering tips, including on how to relieve the stress of caring for a new baby. One post, ostensibly about baby food recipes, said: “If as a mum you can’t leave the house, then why not consider bingo online? “You can click here to play Bingo online at Coral – this momentary break from childcare can prove beneficial.”

The Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) guidelines state that gambling adverts must not be “socially irresponsible," including presenting betting as a way to relieve loneliness or depression. Another parenting blog recommended “opulent games of online roulette that are easy to learn and can provide some handy winnings too." The ASA guidelines also state that gambling must not be presented as a “solution to financial concerns." A further three parenting blogs posted parenting articles that also contained segments recommending online casino or bingo and linking to the Coral website. A source familiar with the arrangements said Coral had paid the bloggers to include the links.

Entain, which owns Coral, said the articles including links to the Coral website had been posted between 2014 and 2016, before it bought Ladbrokes Coral in 2018. On Tuesday, the company said it would try to get them taken down as soon as possible, although they remained live on Sunday. The source, who used to work for a company that arranged such deals with bloggers, said Coral staff had read the articles and signed them off before publication. [...] Only one of the blog posts disclosed that links contained in the article were the result of a sponsorship or affiliate marketing arrangement. The Guardian has chosen not to name the blogs because the authors could not be reached for comment. The source said the practice was chiefly aimed at manipulating Google’s search results by creating an association between women and online casino and bingo games.

Submission + - Anti-Piracy Outfit Wipes ACE's 'Watch Legally' Page From Google (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: ACE, the world's leading anti-piracy coalition, is facing an unexpected setback after Google removed a page that advises 'pirates' where they can watch content legally. The removal is the result of an erroneous takedown notice from a competing anti-piracy organization, and was likely triggered by an ACE domain name seizure. [...] After the “Watch Legally” page was removed from Google search, visitors see the following note [here] at the bottom of the results.

In response to a recent takedown notice, Google removed ACE’s “Watch Legally” page for alleged copyright infringement. This action was taken at the behest of Indian anti-piracy outfit AiPlex. The ACE page was repeatedly flagged by AiPlex in recent weeks. In this notice, for example, it’s accused of distributing a pirated copy of the film ‘Virgin Bhanupriya,’ together with sites such as foumovies.pw, afilmyhit.cafe, and yomovies.bid. Why AiPlex flagged a page that’s designed to drive traffic to legal services is unclear.

Submission + - 'Dream glove' boosts creativity during sleep (science.org) 1

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: On a stormy night in 1816, Mary Shelley had a terrifying dream about a corpse coming to life—a nightmare that inspired her to write Frankenstein. More than a century later, a melody in a dream led Paul McCartney to compose one of The Beatles’s most beloved songs, Yesterday.

Is there something about dreaming that enhances our creativity? Or is it just sleep itself? Scientists say they’re closer to an answer, thanks to an unusual study that used an electronic glove to guide people’s dreams while they slumbered.

To conduct the work, researchers invited 50 volunteers, mostly students and professors, to either stay awake or take a nap in a laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Those in the nap group laid down with an eye mask, while wearing a Dormio, a glovelike device with sensors that measure heart rate and muscle tone changes to track sleep stages. A computer linked to the device relayed audio cues to inspire the wearers to dream about specific subjects—a process called “targeted dream incubation.”

Overall, volunteers who dreamt about trees scored 78% higher on the creativity metrics than those who stayed awake just observing their thoughts and 63% higher than those who stayed awake thinking about trees. Participants who napped without hearing the prompt still got a creativity boost, but those who dreamed about trees still performed 48% better than them.

The researchers also noticed that the volunteers used the content of their dreams to answer the tests. The person who dreamed that their limbs were made of old wood wrote a story about an oak king with a wood body, for example. The person who dreamed of becoming bigger than trees, meanwhile, listed “toothpick for a giant” as an alternative use for a tree.

Submission + - US Aims To Turn Middle-American Cities Into New Tech Hubs (cnbc.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The U.S. government is seeking to turn metro areas in middle America into the next hot spots of tech innovation with an initial $500 million investment. The Department of Commerce announced Friday its first notice of funding opportunity, or NOFO, for the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub program, known as Tech Hubs. It kicks off the process for eligible groups around the country to apply to be designated as Tech Hubs. That designation gives them the chance to take advantage of the funds to make their regions attractive places for entrepreneurs and technologists to live and work.

Congress authorized $10 billion for the program between fiscal years 2023 and 2027, of which $500 million is available to be distributed this year. Under the current funding opportunity, a total of $15 million in planning grants will be made available to applicants designated as Tech Hubs. Later this year, the Department will seek to award five to 10 designated Tech Hubs grants of $50 million to $75 million each to help build out capacity in their region, according to a Department of Commerce official. President Joe Biden requested $4 billion be made available for Tech Hubs in next year’s budget.

Eligible applicants are groups made up of at least one entity from each of the following categories: a higher education institution, subdivision of local or state government, industry or firm in relevant tech or manufacturing field, economic development group, and labor organization or workforce training group. Under the statute, Tech Hubs should focus on a specific set of key areas of technology, which include artificial intelligence, robotics, natural disaster prevention, biotechnology, cybersecurity, energy efficiency and more. The department must designate at least 20 Tech Hubs under the law. The hope is that the infusion of funds will help regions across the country become essential centers of innovation and create more well-paying jobs across a greater swath of the nation.

Submission + - Bluetooth Tags For Android's 3 Billion-Strong Tracking Network Are Here (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After the release of Apple's AirTags, Google suddenly has interest in the Bluetooth tracker market. The company has already quietly rolled out what must be the world's largest Bluetooth tracking network via Android's 3 billion active devices, and now trackers are starting to plug in to that network. Google is taking the ecosystem approach and letting various companies plug in to the Android Bluetooth tracking network, which has the very derivative name of "Find My Device." While these Bluetooth trackers are great for finding your lost car keys on a messy desk, they can also work as worldwide GPS trackers and locate items much farther away, even though they don't have GPS. The IDs of Bluetooth devices are public, so Tile started this whole idea of crowdsourced Bluetooth tracker location, called the "Tile Network." Every phone with the Tile app installed scans Bluetooth devices in the background and, using the phone GPS, uploads their last seen location to the cloud. This location data is only available to the person who owns the Tile, but every Tile user works to scan the environment and upload any Tiles the app can see. [...]

Now, third-party Bluetooth trackers for Android's network are starting to arrive. The two companies that have announced products are Chipolo and Pebblebee, both of which seem to be cloning the Tile line of products. Both offer normal keychain tracker tags and slim credit card format trackers. The worst habits of Tile include making completely disposable products because the batteries can't be changed, but it looks like our clones have mostly avoided that. All of Pebblebee's Find My Device products are rechargeable, which is great, while the Chipolo keychain tracker has a replaceable CR2032 battery. Only the Chipolo wallet tracker is disposable (boo!). All these tags will show up in the Find My Device app, right alongside your Android phones, headphones, and whatever else you have that plugs in to the network. They also have a speaker, like normal, so you can make them ring when you're near them. Both sets of products are up for preorder now.
Businesses

Submission + - Best Buy Accused of Overcharging

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Connecticut's Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has accused Best Buy of overcharging. It is said that, customers would see one price on Best Buy's website, but when they got to the store the salesscum would show them a different internal site from a kiosk. Best Buy denies the charges. Link

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Long computations which yield zero are probably all for naught.

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